I am looking for a usb or bluetooth device that I can use to control Powerpoint/Google slides AND iTunes.

I am an elementary music teacher and I use Google Slides daily to show song lyrics, teaching visuals, etc. I like to play all the music I use in class through iTunes and I want to be able to control it from across the room even when google slides is taking up the whole screen.

Basically I just want something that can map to keyboard functions. In the past I have used several different ios apps that can do this, but I want something that has tactile feedback and is easy to grab and control quickly. I don't want to have my phone out all day while I'm teaching.

Here's the catch: whatever I find has to work with both macs and pcs, since I teach with both. Does such a product exist? Any personal recommendations? I see several possibilities on Amazon but I'm not sure what is going to work best.

I'm open to something that is IR or RF (I guess?), or that functions via bluetooth. Built in laser pointer is a plus but not required.

Most of these remotes will have limited functions because thay are geared towards presentations. Perhaps this App/pointer thingee would work.posted by Gungho at 6:00 AM on August 4, 2014

There are lots of iOS apps that work great for this, but I'm trying to avoid using my phone for reasons I stated above.

I'm leaning towards something like this, which is overkill but still pretty small and looks like it could do what I want it to do. I don't need that many buttons, though.

Any other ideas? Would a media center-type remote work with a mac?posted by rossination at 1:25 PM on August 4, 2014

What about a presenter remote, like this? Or even just a normal wireless mouse like this that has secondary buttons on the side that you can remap to keyboard functions?

I highly recommend NOT using bluetooth and instead using a dedicated USB dongle like the one the Logitech presenters have. That way, it requires zero setup and is way more reliable.posted by suedehead at 4:02 PM on August 4, 2014

I used to have a presenter remote that I loved (then I dropped and broke it) but it still didn't do anything but control the active window. I want something with at least a few extra buttons I can remap to other functions.posted by rossination at 5:44 PM on August 4, 2014

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